


Breaking Down the Walls

by LegendaryDefenderSOX



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Brainwashing, Depression, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hurt Lance (Voltron), Mental Health Issues, Multi, Self-Doubt, Self-Harm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-09
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-03-28 23:29:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13914459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LegendaryDefenderSOX/pseuds/LegendaryDefenderSOX
Summary: The paladins of Voltron, a formidable force for any foe, even towards the largest ruling force this side of the universe. It was almost funny, how five, puny, humans could cause so much of a ripple, as to make the order of the Galran Empire to be overturned. However, what should happen if one of those paladins, the key to their success, were to doubt everything that Voltron had ever achieved.I don't know how to write a summary in all honesty, and this was my best attempt. Have fun with the reading.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is my first fanfiction, so I hope that it goes well. Feel free to let me know if you spy any grammatical, or other errors in this work so that I can fix it. Criticism is always appreciated, just please refrain from being nasty or purposefully hurtful. I hope that you enjoy!

Prologue

 

The mission was simple. They were to retrieve intelligence from a large battle cruiser on its way to the Entrai System, then to make a swift exit. In and out, no witnesses, no reminders of their presence, just the knowledge it held and nothing more. The team had decided to only use the two smaller lions, Red for her speed, and Green for her cloaking capabilities. Hunk and Lance were to ride with Pidge in Green, and Shiro was to go with Keith in Red. 

However, the things that should be the most simple rarely are. The team had made it onto the base with little difficulty. Inside, there was yet for a Galra or sentry to be spotted. 

Lance spoke to the team “Guys, isn’t a little weird that we haven’t seen a single sentry in this entire place. I think that we should be careful. This might be a trap.” 

Pidge responded, almost exasperated at Lance, “Lance, we don’t have time for this, let’s just accept this and not look a gift-horse in the mouth” 

With that statement the team resumed the previous silence as they headed towards the control center that was rumored to hold their desired information. 

Shiro spoke up, a commanding tone clearly present in his voice. “Okay, Pidge, grab the information and make sure to disable cameras and delete any footage that we were here. Lance, Keith, watch over the main exit and keep watch for any sentries. Hunk, take the other entrance with me.”

The team murmured their agreements. Whereas before it had been solely Lance that felt the situation was off, the others were beginning to become wary of the situation. No one spoke to each other, focusing only on the task that they had been assigned. The only sounds were those of Pidge hacking through the Galran interface, attempting to break though and uncover the vital information on fleet movements, prisoners, and everything in between.

Pidge could be heard celebrating just a little when she had broken through and collected everything that the cruiser help. 

She spoke, “Okay guys, I have the information. Now, let’s skedaddle on out of here. I am actually agreeing with Lance for once. I don’t like that there hasn’t been a single sign of protection for the ship.” 

Lance piped up happily, “Told ya,”

Pidge resorted to merely rolling her eyes and heading towards the exit. All was quiet amongst the team as they walked near where their lions were located. Halfway towards their exit, however, claxons blared in a deafening fashion throughout the cruiser. Heavy footsteps could be heard rushing towards the paladins, showing the first Galran presence since they had boarded the ship.

The team was caught in a hall, with a choice to either move forwards or retreat back towards the control room they had just left. Although, that choice was soon ripped from their grasp as sentries revealed themselves from both directions, effectively trapping the team. Preparing their bayards, they attacked in a beautiful fashion. After years of fighting a war in space, they had become coordinated to the point where they appeared to be one. 

Pidge ducked and used her small size to go under the sentries and disarm them in one fell swoop as she took advantage of her bayard’s electrical properties. Keith and Shiro used their sword and arm respectively to close in and dash between the advancing soldiers. Taking them out in a glorious fashion that could almost be compared to that of ballet dancers or professional gymnasts. Hunk took out sentries in a blazing glory of a fire storm. His large gun, proved very useful to do as such. Lance bent down for stability and provided support for his teammates, no, his friends. Using his sniper rifle, he took clean shots, each one proving fatal for the sentries, each one landing with amazing accuracy.

Despite the beauty of their combined powers taking down sentries left and right, the team was slowly becoming overwhelmed. Whilst they had managed to isolate the sentries to only one side,with the lions not far behind their backs, the sentries came in neverending numbers. Keith and Shiro were tiring, as well as the rest of the team, slowly becoming more evident as they came closer and closer each time to being hit. 

Lance thought to himself. “Dammit, we are so close to the lions. If only we could create a distraction so the sentries would stop for at least 2 seconds. Just enough for us to get back to the lions.” It was then that he had a self-proclaimed bright idea. He refused to let his teammates get hurt and he knew that in order to do so, he had to act quick.

“Guys I have an idea,” he yelled over the comm units, “there is no way we can take out every sentry, there are way too many and they appear out of nowhere. I think the only way we can get out of this without you guys getting hurt is if we make a dash for the lions.” It took a second for a reply, as most of them were still trying to catch a breath. Shiro was the first to talk in response.

“We may have to do that. I agree with Lance in that there is no way that we can take out  _ every  _ single sentry. It is like they just pop out of thin air. We are going to get hurt or worse if we keep this up. On my count, we bolt. Lance, Hunk, help provide cover for a few seconds then retreat the second they get within 10 feet of you. Alright, 3, 2, 1, GO.” With that simple command the Shiro, Pidge, and Keith ran, Hunk and Lance lagging for a few seconds to ensure safety. 

The massive number of sentries soon held a fast approach towards the paladins. Lance and Hunk let up and ran as fast as they could. However, Lance began to slow down so Hunk could make it to the lions. Lance was okay with this, after all, if he had truly ran as fast as he could Hunk would be overwhelmed. If he stayed at Hunk’s pace and they both miraculously made it to the lions, the sentries would already be upon them and they would just be in a worse position than before. This was the only way to Lance.

They were almost to the lions when Lance stopped and turned to shoot down as many sentries as he could. There was the faint sound of yelling ringing through his ears, but he focused on the task at hand. 

“Maybe I can make it. They are pretty far back, and I am almost there. I don’t want to die!” Lance thought to himself. He ran towards Green. He was so, so close, just a few steps more, just a little farther. He was not as lucky as one could hope. Just out of reaching distance of Green, a shot flew through his torso. Falling to his knees, he looked down to his stomach and saw red stain the armor.

“LANCE!” Keith shouted. He couldn’t let Lance go. However, the sentries took over too fast for them to do anything right away. Keith, along with the other paladins, fueled by an immeasurable rage, tore through sentry after sentry. Fatigue was long forgotten, and their minds became one, thinking one thought collectively. “Lance won’t fall today.”

After what they knew was far too long, the sentries were reduced to bits and pieces thrown about the room. Those sentries were doomed the second they laid a single finger on Lance. Something was off, all of the paladins could feel it permeate throughout the air. What that was, was something having been lost. They looked around the room in search of the blue paladin with little luck. All that was left of him was a crimson stain identifying itself sickeningly in the purple light.

Lance was gone, vanished as if into thin air without much of a trace left. This did not deter the rest of his team, as they tore through every single section of the large ship. Pidge did a bioscan and only found the other three and herself blinking on the screen. Shiro ran through the ship towards the other end so he could attempt to find more. Hunk resorted to calling Lance’s name, and searched through the remnants of the sentries in case he had been buried. Keith, dear Keith, heartbroken at the loss in the only real family he had throughout the universe. Keith ran, screaming through the ship, tearing apart rooms, doing whatever he could to find the missing man.

Little did those paladins know what was to come. They would not find Lance on that ship, they would not find Lance at all. No matter what they did, how many ships they tore apart, he was gone. He was not dead, no, but he was in a place where it was up to him to escape. He was in a situation far worse than death.


	2. Winning the War, Losing the Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, it's a me, Ana. I am sorry, that joke sounded better in my head. Any who, I hope that you enjoy this chapter, and remember this one key point. Criticism will always be welcome from you guys as long as you aren't being purposefully mean or hurtful to anyone. Hope that you enjoy!

Chapter One: Winning the War, Losing the Fight

 

White, a comforting color, especially when paired with the feeling of being free and floating, as if your body didn’t exist or tether you to the Earth. For Lance, this was very much the case, where the concerns of yesterday left him content and without worry, except that was not entirely true at this point. Through the numbness of the white, Lance struggled. He struggled to remember something, anything that would help to ease his mind from the continuously growing concern at the back of his mind. Lance pushed against his brain, pressing for information. That was it!

“Information,” Lance gasped out, “we needed information.” With that Lance’s memories came full force, a blow to the head in some sense of the word. Suddenly the all-encompassing white became claustrophobic and terrifying. 

“I can’t be dead, can I? Where am I and why is everything so white? Where are my teammates, my friends? I don’t want to be alone. I want to live!” At this point Lance was screaming and crying, begging whatever gods may exist in this universe to let him live just one more day. To release him from this white hell, and from the suffocating feeling it held. He cried and cried, until it felt as if his tears would drown him before anything else. Then all of a sudden, like being struck upon the head, he woke up inside room that was a relief compared to the previous white.

Sitting up on what appeared to be a hospital bed, wearing a simple grey t-shirt and pair of plain grey sweatpants. Why was everything so grey? Where was he? Searching for some clue of a location, his eyes scanned the room, cataloguing everything. However, that everything, was quite little. Two small hospital beds, including the one he was sitting on, two dressers, two bedside tables, a small table with two chairs, a window, and a door. The door was closed and the light reminiscent of a new day shone through the window. It was quite pleasant compared to the terrifying white that was before. 

Standing up, Lance walked towards the window. Sure enough, the sun was still rising, casting the world in soft, yet magnificent colors. Looking outside, he appeared to be inside a large, multi-room building surrounded by trees and walking paths, as well as a few open areas. In the distance were more buildings, but it was hard to tell what they contained. That was when Lance realized something was off.

“Why am I on a planet, and why is everything so Earth-like? I should be in space right now. What happened?” Lance thought to himself. He felt normal, so he was fairly sure that he wasn’t on drugs or anything like that. The only way he was going to find information would be to inspect his surrounding for any information possible. Turning away from the window, Lance walked to the dressers first, opening the one nearest the window first. 

The first dresser held nothing inside. No clothes, no books, no shoes or nick-nacks, it was just barren and without a single sign of previous use. Lance moved over to the second dresser and found little more from that one than the first one. There were a few pairs of sweats that appeared the same as the pair he was wearing, as well as a few shirts that, again, were the same as the one he was currently wearing. After making sure that the clothes were all the dressers held, Lance closed the drawers and looked around the room for some clue of, well, anything.

He noticed the door to his side and thought that it was a great place to start and wished that it was his first stop. Walking over and reaching for the door, he grabbed the handle and attempted to open the door. Lance was unsuccessful in that regard. Attempting again, Lance put more strength into his pull, trying everything he could think of to get the door to open. It was locked, that much was for certain. With no choice left as for what to do, Lance walked back over to the bed he had woken upon, and promptly sat down to stare at nothing until something happened. 

A few minutes later, or what felt like hours to Lance, the door to the little room rattled quite loudly. The sound of metal clanking against more metal resonated perfectly. Then, it stopped as the door opened to reveal a very familiar character indeed.

“SHIRO!” Lance exclaimed, jumping up from the bed and running over. “Man am I glad to see you! I’ve been in here forever and it is so boring. Where are we? Why are we dressed all funky?” Lance shouted at Shiro, happiness ensuing at the release from boredom. As he was discussing his last point, he accentuated the sentence with a waving motion pointing from himself, to Shiro. Shiro, whilst dressed in scrubs and a lab coat, was very confused. 

Playing off said confusion, with a slight mixture of concern, he approached Lance as if he were an animal that could run off at any second. “Lance, do you not remember where we are?” Shiro questioned tentatively.

“No dude, I have literally never seen this place before in my life. Where are we?” 

“Lance, sit down please.” Concern and confusion now played on Lance’s face and mind as he sat upon his bed. “Lance, you have been here for five months.”

“There is no way that is possible. I mean, we were literally just up in space fighting the Galran Empire like, I don’t know, an hour ago. You know, giant space robot cats, fighting for the universe. Come on man, you are even the head of Voltron.” Lance rambled off, trying to understand why Shiro was acting in such a way. “You remember that, right?”

Shiro shook his head, almost appearing sad in some sense of the word. “Lance, I knew you had relapsed, but usually your fantasies don’t last this long. It must’ve been the change in meds.” 

“What do you mean change in meds? I don’t take anything. What is going on here and where am I?” Lance was getting desperate, confusion and anxiety forcing his mind to go through every possible scenario there could be.

“Lance, you are at St. Reiter's Mental Facility. You have been here for five months now.” Shiro was back to the point where he was slowly approaching the bed where Lance sat.

“That’s… That is not possible. I have been in space fighting the Galra for the past year. I haven’t been here. There is no way, just… no way for that to be possible.”

“I am afraid that you are incorrect. Your delusions have led you to believe that you weren’t here, but you have been a patient.”

Lance shot off the bed like a rocket. “No, I can’t accept this, this isn’t real. You aren’t the real Shiro. I am not here.” Lance was hyperventilating; fear, confusion, anger, sadness, and so many more emotions raced through his head all at once. His hands clenched his hair, tears streaming from his eyes. Lance backed up into the corner, black spots from a lack of oxygen dotting his vision.

“Mr. McClain, Lance, please. I need you to calm down. It is alright. You are going to be fine.”

Lance had reached the corner, muttering to himself. “It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real.” was repeated on loop. The world began to darken around him. Soon it tilted, and kept tilting and he felt something cold press against his cheek. Then, blackness. It was a pleasant relief to the weird place that he had just been, and he was not anxious whatsoever to join hands again with the land of the living anytime soon. Despite the relief of being away from the panic that was his mind a second ago, he knew that he would be back. Back in that room, back in God knows where, because he was far from death.

As if on cue, Lance felt a tug at his mind as he rejoined the world of the conscious and living. Slowly the suffocating darkness brightened until it was near blinding, and then he was opening his eyes. Sitting up slowly, Lance blearily look round the room, noticing that he was on the floor, in the same spot that he had passed out in. Not much time could have passed. It was then that he looked straight up into the unnerving eyes of one Takashi Shirogane, who just so happened to be staring at him with a mixture of pity, sadness, and regret all flitting through his eyes.

“Wait” Lance mentally reminded himself. This wasn’t the real Shiro, it was just a clone, or some projection, or maybe a hallucination. However, there was no way that this was the real one. Lance stared at the “Shiro” with cold, piercing eyes. The blue in his eyes shined menacingly as he thought over how he was going to get out of this situation. The “Shiro” seemed to notice the silence was unusual, especially for the normally talkative Lance, and appeared confused as to what to do.

Lance watched as “Shiro” held out his hand and smiled, a gesture not unlike that of a silent peace treaty. Begrudgingly, Lance put his hand in “Shiro’s”, letting himself be pulled up and off of the cold hospital floor. 

“Now Lance, why don’t we go get you something to eat. Breakfast started a little while ago, but I am pretty sure that there is still plenty left.” With that, “Shiro” left and headed towards the door. Whilst still unsure whether or not to trust the imposter, Lance did know that he was hungry, and that there was no point in making this, well whatever this was, any worse for him. So he forced himself to follow “Shiro” to the door and out into the hallway, hoping that he would find a way out sometime soon.

The hallway was brightly lit, almost so much so as to blind a person. That was more an exaggeration on Lance’s mind’s part, but the point remains that it was extremely well lit. The hall was mostly empty, aside from the occasional patient or nurse ambling about. It was good that “Shiro” knew where he was going, because after the third turn, Lance was hopelessly confused on the matter of even making it back to his room. Luck seemed to rear its head nonetheless as they approached a large room at the end of the hall that also seemed to be quite full.

Lance suspected that this was the cafeteria that “Shiro” had been leading them towards, and those suspicions were confirmed when they walked in to a large amount of people sitting at tables and eating. It was a fairly nice room, if Lance were to be frank with himself. There were nice tables and comfortable looking chairs. Granted, while it did have a striking resemblance to a school’s lunchroom, it was much nicer than he was expecting.

Following him dutifully, more so because he did not have any choice in the matter, lead him to a small line of other people and patients, or what Lance assumed to be patients in this weird hallucination of his. The line was small and moved with decent speed. In no time he was at the front of the line and grabbing his own tray. Looking up, he saw none other than one Hunk Garett smiling down at him.

Lance lit up, “Hunk, my buddy! Man am I glad to see you, it has been too long, well I mean, I did see you a few hours ago, but you’re here! You are actually here!” Lance rambled on and on, excitement gripping his heart. I mean Hunk was here! That meant that Lance had a way out of this place, and back to team Voltron. He wasn’t alone anymore! 

“Hey Lance, yeah man good to see you too! I think it’s been a little more than a few hours since dinner though. Anyway, I made eggs, I hope that you like them!” With that two things simultaneously happened. First, eggs and other various breakfast items were shoveled onto his plate. Second, Lance’s heart deflated. His hope that Hunk’s presence meant that he would be rescued was dashed in less than a second.

Lance’s face dropped, only subtly, and then his mask at happiness at seeing Hunk reappeared, “Yeah man, that sounds awesome! I bet it’s going to be great.” With that he smiled at Hunk, and he smiled back. Lance grabbed his tray and walked back towards where the tables were. He reminded himself “That isn’t Hunk, that doctor isn’t Shiro, this isn’t real.”, the last part becoming his mantra. Repeating to himself “This isn’t real, this isn’t real, this isn’t real,...”, was the one thing occupying his mind aside from finding a spot to sit.

He found a small, circular table near the corner that was unoccupied and decided this was the best spot to be by himself and think over the entire situation. His mind was a smorgasbord of muddled thoughts, confused at everything that was going on, including the whole doppelganger situation. Whilst still absorbed in his thoughts, he didn’t notice a person sit across from him at the small table.

“Lance, man how are you? Haven’t seen you for a while.” Lance looked over to see a small male with auburn hair, hazel eyes, and looked suspiciously like the resident computer nerd of the castle.

“Hey?” Lance said with confusion strongly laced within his voice, “I am okay, how are you?” Deciding to play along, he continued the interesting conversation with the interesting man. 

“Oh, me? I am great, I think that I have found a way to find the real Katie, instead of the imposter that they say is Katie. But, you and me, we both know that it is not her, right man?” Suddenly it all connected. This was Pidge’s brother, Matt, that she had been looking for. And what did he mean by imposter? Did that make him a real person because he knew too?

“Yeah man, I get ya. Kinda like “Shiro” over there pretending to be a doctor.”, Lance made sure to emphasize the air quotes so that Matt would understand that he knew exactly what was going on in this weird place.

“I know, right? First time I saw Shiro, I was confused. I mean, he is like six, how can he even have a medical license?” This statement cause both of them to laugh. Lance was glad he had actually found a real person that he could laugh with.

“Yeah, but I am still confused on one thing Matt.”

“What is that?”

“Why am I here? I mean one second I was fighting swarms of Galran sentries, and then I woke up here. It doesn’t make any sense. What is going on?”

“I wish I could tell you dude, but I have no idea either. I mean, one day I was in this Galran cell, but then I woke up here. They told me something like that I was suppressing bad memories and whatnot. Who would suppress memories with the Galra? They are fucking terrifying, and being scared everyday for your life doesn’t sound like a great coping technique.”

“Hmm, that is weird.” Lance was beginning to piece everything together.

“What would that be?”

“It seems that we were both in the hands of the Galra, or somewhere Galran before here.”

“Yeah, it does. Wait does that mean…?”

“Yeah, we are here because of the Galra. This must be some sort of experiment or something.”

“That would make sense. I mean that witch Haggar is pretty sadistic, and making us doubt everything sounds right up her alley.” Just as Lance was about to reply and ask about Haggar, he felt a hand clasp on his shoulder and looked up to see “Shiro” looking down at the two of them. 

“Shiro”’s voice almost held a menacing lilt to it, however Lance felt that may have been the circumstances playing tricks on his mind. “What do you two think you are doing?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you guys enjoyed that cliffhanger, but if you hate me for it, oh well. Anyways, thank you guys for reading, and I hope that this fic will make someone happy. Again, criticism is always welcome, mainly because I rely on feedback like most authors in order to improve. Hope that you enjoyed!


	3. Confusion and Curiosity Cutting through Calculation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that I haven't posted a chapter in a while. I apologize my beautiful darlings, but I hope that this can make up for it. I hope that you enjoy this. Criticism is always appreciated. Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Confusion and Curiosity Cutting through Calculation

 

“What do you two think you are are doing?” “Shiro” asked.

Lance turned around to look into “Shiro's” eyes, flashing the cheesiest grin he could in order to alleviate to slight tinge of fear that was running through his mind. “Shiro” had a glare that could cause even the Galra to shudder in fear. As the silence soon became awkward and uncomfortable for all parties involved, Lance raced through his thoughts, digging for a reasonable explanation. He didn’t know why “Shiro” would be angry at him socializing, but he felt like a kid that had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Why “Shiro”, we were just having a nice conversation, is that a crime?” Lance emphasize the air quotes, soon realizing that might not have been the best course of action when “Shiro’s” stare intensified. He gulped and leaned back a little as his heart began to race from confusion and fear.

“Well Lance, you should know by now that you haven’t been permitted to visit with Mr. Holt over there since the accident. Now I suggest that you move tables so we can prevent another incident from occurring.”

Lance was thoroughly confused as to what was going on, but he decided to play along and prevent conflict between him and “Shiro”.  He picked up his small tray and moved to an empty spot that was about 2 tables away from Matt. This seemed to satisfy “Shiro” as he smiled and moved away from Lance’s and Matt’s general area to oversee some other patients. By now, more tables had emptied out as patients filed into the halls to do whatever they do. Lance didn’t really care what they did, considering that he was going to figure out how to get out of here sometime soon.

The food was good, better than what he had expected considering that this appeared to be some sort of hospital. It felt lonely to be unable to talk to the only person he had found that seemed to be real. This had to be some trick conjured up by Haggar or one of the druids, or that was what Lance had determined.

When Lance had finished with his food, he stood to place the tray in the same spot as other dirty trays, which appeared to be some sort of wooden stand. Satisfied that he could escape from the cafeteria and away from the hawk-like eye of “Shiro”, he walked towards the doors and out into the hall. There weren’t very many patients out here in the halls, and he wondered where they could have gone, especially considering that they weren’t inside of the cafeteria. He also realized at that moment that he had no idea how to make it back to the room that he had woken up in.

Settling himself to aimlessly wandering the halls till he found something interesting seemed the best course of action. The only option he had was to sit in the cafeteria. Now Lance loved people, don’t get him wrong, but just sitting in there and listening was not appealing. Even less so considering his current predicament. So, with nothing left to do, he began his meandering journey throughout the halls of the hospital. 

Lance did not find much in the way of interesting rooms or patients. He was clueless where Matt was, and he was the only one that Lance really cared about talking to. There were no signals as to what time it was either, so Lance didn’t know how long that he had been wandering about. It could have been a simple matter of minutes, or several hours. Being in space, rather than on a planet with discernible nights and days can also mess with a person’s sense of time. Most of the paladin’s, from what Lance knew, just counted each day as the time between sleep cycles, which was accurate enough to get them by.

Lance remembered his small calendar back on the castle ship inside his room. It wasn’t necessarily a calendar by anyone’s standard but it meant the world to Lance for one very simple reason. In all honesty, his “calendar” wasn’t much more that a few pieces of Altean paper stuck to his wall with numbers and circles drawn on. Nonetheless it helped him to remember Earth and everything that he had left back there. It helped him count the sleep cycles and remember how long that they had been away from home for, and how long it had been since he had seen his siblings.

Lance had stopped in the corridor, feeling cool tears slide down his cheeks as he remembered everyone’s faces and voices. It was hard being away from home for so long and with no way to let them know that he was alright. In all reality, Lance realised, they most likely thought that Lance was dead. What had The Garrison told them when they went missing? Did they blame this on a pilot error, even though it makes no sense for the situation? Did Mama and Papi cry when they heard the news?

Lance sat on the cool floor, back against the wall. He was unable to stop the swarm of terrible thoughts running through his head about his family. It was terrifying to think that they might have forgotten about him and moved on with their lives. It was heart wrenching to think that he had caused them all this pain, just to be trapped up in space fighting a 10,000 year old war that Earth should have never been involved in.

He had long since stopped caring whether anybody passed by him and saw him on that floor, crying. He was stuck in some sort of mental hospital after all. What did it matter? What did it matter that he just started crying in the middle of a hall for no apparent reason. They did already think he was insane after all. Just like everyone else in this wretched place, he was a patient. Just another patient that no one bothered to look twice at.

“No,” Lance reminded himself, “none of this is real. I am not actually hear and this is some cruel Galran experiment or trick.” Lance pushed himself off of the floor and out of the uncomfortable sitting position, determined on one position. He would remember that he was a paladin of Voltron. That he had a family back on Earth. That none of this was real, and that most importantly, he would find a way to escape from here.

Lance also made sure to chastise himself just a little for thinking so selfishly. Of course he was missing his family, everyone was. Hunk, Keith, Shiro, Pidge, hell, even both of the Alteans. He had no right to lament on what he was missing when everyone he was surrounded by was missing the same things in life. His own homesickness couldn’t even begin to compare to someone like Allura or Coran, both of which were the last of their kind. That would deal a heavy blow to anyone. He just had to suck it up and move on.

Lance took a step forward and was reminded of the fact that he did not appear to be wearing any socks or shoes. How did he not notice when he had woken up earlier? His only explanation was that he was too preoccupied with the new situation before that it had slipped his mind to check what he looked like past the thin grey t-shirt and grey sweatpants. As a matter of fact, besides the lack of clocks in the nearby vicinity, he had also not seen a single mirror. It was a very odd situation to say the least.

He was unable to change the situation with his feet, however. He would just have to deal till he found the room he had woken in, or he lucked out with one of the supposed doctors. He began to walk again down the hall, each step making itself more pronounced than the last about how cold his feet were. He did his best to ignore the feeling and focused on the task at hand.

Lance kept wandering through the halls, still confused on how much time had passed since he had last eaten food. How big was this place? Lance had no clue but wait, did he pass that patient before? Where was he going? Lance was truly lost, and the thought of it was a little terrifying if Lance were to be honest with himself. That was when he felt a hand on his shoulder that grasped it a little too tightly to be comfortable, but not hard enough as to be painful.

Lance turned around to be greeted by the harsh glare of one “Shiro” staring down at Lance. It would be obvious to any bystander that Lance had a small bit of a fear reflex kicking through him at that moment. It was shown in the way he gulped hard and loud, the way he pulled back from “Shiro’s” touch, and in the way he curled in on himself to make him that much smaller.

“Lance,” “Shiro” began, “Where have you been? I have been looking for you for the past 20 minutes. You of all people should know that you aren’t supposed to wander the halls unsupervised, or leave mealtime without clearance from a doctor. What are you doing?” There was a look of concern that darted momentarily across “Shiro’s” face as he noticed the not long dried tears that streaked across Lance’s cheeks. Lance, on the other hand, was very confused.

“I was just wandering around. What is wrong with that? What is so wrong with me leaving the cafeteria?” What on Earth is going on, Lance silently added. 

“What is wrong, is that we need to make sure that you don’t purge anything or hurt yourself. We both know why that has to be, so stop pretending you don’t. Now come on, it is time for you to talk with Dr. Altea. Follow me now.” 

Lance was still thoroughly confused as to why they thought he would hurt himself. He has never had an eating disorder, and was only depressed for a very short while before going to The Garrison. That was only because he had to adjust to not be surrounded by his large family. “Shiro” took notice when Lance continued to stand in the hallway rather than follow him. The battle of thoughts fighting inside his mind was shown all too well on his face. “Shiro” walked over to Lance and put his hand much more lightly on Lance’s shoulder.

Lance looked up at “Shiro”, despair and confusion still painting his face. Lance looked back down at the floor and began to follow “Shiro” through the halls. “Shiro” navigated with such precision that Lance couldn’t help but to be amazed. After all, this place was built like a maze, and Lance the labrat searching for cheese. Shaking his head softly, Lance went back to focusing on where they were going and memorizing the path that “Shiro” took. Left, left, right, left, right, and so on and so forth.

“Wait, was the fourth turn a left or a right?” Lance thought to himself. It was at that point that Lance gave up on memorizing the path “Shiro” took. After a while of following “Shiro”, they finally stopped in front of a door made out of dark wood and carved intricately. Lance just stood and stared at the door while “Shiro” grew impatient with him. Eventually he gave up on waiting for Lance to open the door and opened it for him.

Lance walked inside the room to be greated by a lady that looked like a human version of Allura. Her hair and everything was the same, but she didn’t have pointed ears, or marks under her eyes to signify her Altean lineage. “Wait”, Lance thought, “Hadn’t “Shiro” said Dr. Altea? What is going on around here, and why is everything so similar but different to reality? I must be dreaming or something.” With that thought Lance took a hesitant and small step inside the small room.

“Ah Lance, I am so glad that you were finally able to join us for our session today. Please, sit, sit. I want to hear all about your day so far.” Allura was far too chipper and was acting far too out of character for Lance. It was unsettling. To make things worse, “Shiro” left and closed the door behind himself. Lance was essentially trapped. Lance decided to cut to the chase and just ask straight up what was going on. 

“Who…” Lance paused, “Who are you?” Allura’s face seemed to drop, her smile disappearing as if it were never there in the first place. She appeared sad, or worried. Lance couldn’t tell which of the two emotions was dominant. Perhaps is was both. Nevertheless, Lance began to feel bad for causing another person to look so hurt. He wished he could just go back and pretend that everything was right. The maybe he belonged in here just to make her look happy again.

“No!” Lance thought. He mustn’t lose sight of his goal now. This wasn’t the real Allura so what did it matter if she looked hurt. He doubted clones could feel true emotion anyways. Lance knew that he didn’t belong in here, that he should be back in space with the real Voltron team. Still, Lance had a slight pang of guilt pulsing in his heart at the distressed look upon Allura’s face.

“Lance,” Allura began carefully, “What is the last thing that you remember?”

“Well, I remember that I was fighting with the team on a battlecruiser near the Entrai system. We were overcome with drones and I was shot by one just before reaching the green lion. And then I woke up here?” Lance sounded really unsure of that last part, but he ignored it and continued with a slight smirk. “And of course you won’t believe a single thing that I am telling you. You think I belong in this godforsaken place, even though I belong back in space. So if you wouldn’t mind cutting it with the horrible clones and letting me go, I would appreciate it. I know you can hear me Haggar, you damn witch. I SEE THROUGH YOUR LIES!”

“Lance please calm down. You are having another episode. Please sit down.” Allura’s voice was calming, and Lance stopped yelling for just long enough to look at her. He was so worked up that he didn’t even remember standing up from his chair. A look of pity was prominent on Allura’s face and he almost felt bad for her. Lance sat down, upset however. He was upset that his attempts to call Haggar out had failed. He just wanted all of this to stop and he wanted to get back to the castle ship.

“That is good Lance. Now I see that we are back to the Voltron stories again. That isn’t very good and you should know that by now. I assume that that is merely a side effect of your medication, so I will write in to have it changed.” Allura’s voice was still very quiet and she acted as if she was talking to a little kid.

“I told you that you wouldn’t believe me. Of course you don’t. Why would Haggar risk revealing the trick to this entire simulation when she can make me doubt myself through the use of my friends and team.”

“Who is this “Haggar” that you keep talking about Lance?”  
“Oh you know, spooky scary witch lady. Glowy, yellow eyes with no pupils. Purple skin and red marks on her face. Horribly taken care of white hair. Always wears a robe. Can’t miss her.”

“And have you ever talked with this “Haggar” lady?”

“Oh trust me, she is no lady. About the farthest thing from it. And no, but I have definitely seen her, and seen what she can do. Of course you would already know all about this. You are one of her clones after all “Allura”. You are fake, just like how everything in this place is fake.”  
“I can assure you Lance that none of this is fake. I am very much a real person Lance, just like Shiro, and the patients, and everyone else. Now I think that this is evidence of another episode. I will make another note here to ensure that we keep an eye on you to make sure we don’t have an incident. Now, last question. This “Haggar” person isn’t in the room, are they?”

“No, of course…” Lance paused as he looked around the room. He was sure she wasn’t here, but when his eyes flitted over the far left corner, there she was. All in hooded glory, eyes glowing menacingly at Lance. Lance jumped up and scrambled to the wall to get as far away as possible. He could faintly hear Allura talking to him as he froze. 

Laughter. Dark and horrible. It rang through his head, taunting him, mocking him for being so scared despite being a paladin of Voltron. The witch raised her horrible hand and smiled a terrible smile. Suddenly Lance couldn’t breath. His throat didn’t work for some reason. Oh god he tried to breath. But he was stuck without air. Dark spots danced in his vision. Lance was panicking horribly, but then he felt nothing as he fell to the ground, the lack of air causing him to pass out. The bittersweet darkness was all that was left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you guys enjoyed that. Criticism is always appreciated.


	4. Hoping the Best, Fearing the Worst

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry that I haven't posted for a while. SAT's are on the 10th and I have been studying like crazy. Oh well. Disclaimer, I had trouble getting through this chapter so it is a little more of a filler chapter than anything else. So be prepared for any cringe that you may find in there. Anyways hope you enjoy reading. Criticism is always appreciated.

Chapter 3: Hoping the Best. Fearing the Worst

When Lance reawoke, he was confused to say the least. Granted he was in the same room as before, but he didn’t know or remember how he got there. Last he remembered, he was talking with fake Allura about Haggar, and then he tried and failed to call her out on her shit. Then, oh, oh god. She was there. Haggar had been there. In that room when Lance was there, in the corner, laughing at him. And then, he couldn’t breathe, the witch had done something to make that happen. Allura had been yelling something at him.

Lance shuddered. He remembered seeing the witch before, seeing how it affected Shiro. He never expected that she would be so utterly terrifying. “I must have looked absolutely bonkers if Allura couldn’t see her. That is not going to help my case whatsoever.” Lance muttered to no one in particular. It was comforting to be able to talk to himself. It felt… familiar and warm. Like it was the one thing in the whole place that was real. It was his tether to his real life outside these walls.

Lance moved on the bed to stand up, shivering slightly as he remembered that he was still sockless. He walked over to his dresser and dug through it, searching for something. He did not get that lucky and realized he would have to make it barefoot. Turning round he went to the door that was now closed. Grabbing the handle, Lance realized that the door was locked. He pulled on the handle with more force than before. Still, the door would not open for Lance. 

Being locked inside of a room was not Lance’s idea of a great time, but at least he didn’t have a chance of walking into “Shiro” in here. Deciding to be productive, Lance felt the need to come up with new, less confusing names for Haggar’s clones. “Shiro’s” was an easy swap for the name Kuro. The entire team took time to learn tidbits of each other’s native languages, in part to help the bonding for Voltron. Shiro’s name meant “White” in Japanese, so Lance felt Kuro, or “Black” was the most suitable option.

Fake Hunk was fairly easy, with Hulk being a great replacement name. All that was left was for Lance to figure out a name for the fake Allura. After some pondering he went with the name “Altea”, which also happened to be the clones fake last name. It worked well, and Lance was happy with his name choices. Eventually Lance knew he would run into another one, but for now this would do.

Lance had begun pacing the room, bored and longing for something, anything, to take his mind off of being locked away. He had no idea how long it had been since he had passed out in Altea’s office, but what he did know was that it was too long. Maybe that was part of the witch’s plan. Leave him without contact with others for prolonged periods of time so he would actually be crazy and deserve to be in a place like this. No matter what, Lance knew that he would persevere. That he must persevere at all costs so he can make it back to reality.

“But,” that seed of doubt inside his head muttered. “What if this is reality? What if Voltron, and Haggar, and the war, and all of it, were just a figment of my imagination? Why if I am truly crazy and belong here?” Lance sat for a second, thinking it over, before shaking his head to remind himself that his memories were too vivid, too real, for them to be faked by his head. While he may be really creative, he wasn’t that good.

Lance had stopped pacing the room, and he was staring into space as he thought over Voltron and everything that it stood for. He knew that he was no good for the team, he just caused grief and brought them down. In fact, they probably would have taken down the Galran empire by now if they had had a competent person for the blue paladin, rather than just a seventh wheel.

He felt something wet sliding down his cheek, knocking him out of his depressive daze. Reaching up and swiping his hand across, he looked down at his hand and realized that he had been crying. “Come on McClain. Get yourself together. You have to stop getting over emotional and think logically if you are going to get out of this hell hole.” Lance told himself out loud. “And stop talking to yourself, it really isn’t helping you claim of sanity now is it?” He thought to himself.

Wiping his eyes to get rid of the excess tears that had not yet fallen, he began walking towards the window. He realized that, for the first time, it was completely sealed, and that there were wires criss-crossing over the glass. He presumed that was to prevent any potentially suicidal patients from jumping. Still, it didn’t prevent him from enjoying the view outside. He had missed Earth, and while this was obviously some fake version, it was still nice to look at.

After not seeing the planet for so long, it was comforting. So much so that Lance had to keep reminding himself that this was not the real world. This was a mirage, a painting, a clone, of the real planet he missed. While still comforting, his reminders were painful, and seeing this just was a great way to make him miss the planet even more. It was so close, within his grasp, but it was still on the other side of the universe. 

Lance kept looking out that window, enduring the enigma of pain and comfort to burn the image of the world in his mind. It may be fake, but it was an amazingly thought out one. The trees outside the window had leaves that bristled in the wind. The grass swayed back and forth in a mesmerizing pattern. The clouds in the sky moved lazily, some forming random patterns, while others resembled common objects and critters. The road on the ground was defined, black asphalt showing itself among the soft greens of the grass.

It created a beautiful scene, and Lance had a hard time tearing himself away from the sight. It was still very confusing, to be happy and sad at an image, but Lance did not trouble himself with it. After all, he had more pressing matters at hand. An escape plan was first and foremost, but it would have to wait till he could get out of the room itself. Looking around for clues to escape, he found himself stumped. The ceiling was low, but it was solid rather than having vents enter inside. There were vents in the ground, but they were bolted in and he could barely fit a foot inside one.

The door was obviously locked, and there was a lone window in the door that looked out into the hallway. That window was much like the other. Made of a thick glass, and backed by criss-crossing metal wires, preventing the patients from being able to break the glass. Lance gave up on escaping the room itself at that point and sat down on the bed he kept waking up in. “Why would Haggar do something like this? What does she have to gain from making me feel crazy?” Lance thought to himself. It made no sense, and Lance doubt it would even with the most detailed explanation from the witch herself.

Laying back, Lance stared at the ceiling, staring at its blank profile with little interest. If only he could make it out of here. All that was left to him was to think about what had happened before he had ended up here. He remembered following the team through the halls, listening for some sign of occupation in the ship. He remembered the chills that had run down his spine at the silent battlecruiser. And most importantly, he remembered the last few moments before he came here where he was prepared to die. He was ready to die then, and that scared Lance.

He was so close to making it out too. Then one of those damned sentries had to get in the way. The pain that had went through his torso as he reached for the green lion. The beam of light that was there for a split second before dissipating. Then blood had dripped from the room at an alarming rate. There was so much blood leaving him empty. Lance looked down at his stomach, which was currently covered by the sweatshirt he wore.

He felt okay. In fact he couldn’t feel any pain whatsoever in any part of his body. It was a strange feeling, especially considered how being a paladin was a sure way to be covered in bruises by the end of every day. Lance was curious about his wound. Surely wounds couldn’t just disappear overnight. He wasn’t that crazy. 

“Lance you aren’t crazy at all god dammit. Don’t let that witch win so easily. It hasn’t even been a day dude and you are already starting to think you belong here in some sense.” Lance thought to himself. He chuckled softly and went back to what he was thinking previously. Grabbing the ends of the sweatshirt, he lifted it to reveal another plain piece of clothing beneath. It was a simple gray T-shirt, and it was just as boring as everything else.

Grabbing the T-shirt, he lifted that as well, and looked down tentatively at his stomach. Sure enough there was a large scar that spanned over his lower ribs to just before his navel. It was uneven at the edges, as if the wound had reopened multiple times. It was white and raised from the flesh. This was his proof! He really wasn’t crazy! “Wait.” Lance thought. “This looks like an older scar and not a recent wound. How long have I really been here? How did this heal so fast?”

Afterall Lance was fairly sure that the Galra did not have standard access to your everyday healing pod, namely because they were an Altean invention. That means the witch healed him for some reason, the Galra had some form of healing pod as well, or Lance had been here much longer than he previously thought. He prayed to whatever deity was out there that the last possibility was not the right answer. He didn’t know what the team would do if they were unable to form Voltron for so long.

Lance’s thoughts began to spin the worst possible scenarios for what could have happened to team Voltron while he wasn’t there. “Had the team looked for me at all?” “They probably replaced me with someone and forgot about me. After all, the universe is more important that one boy from Cuba.” “What if someone had gotten hurt because I didn’t do enough before I was shot?” “Is it possible they were overrun by the sentries and killed because he had to be stupid and get shot.”

His mind was going down an impossible spiral. One negative thought after all. He didn’t notice many things in the moment when he fell down that mental rabbit hole. First, he had started crying once again. Second, he had begun digging his fingernails into his arms hard enough to create long cuts filling with blood and staining his bed and clothing. Third, Lance had also begun to rock slightly with his knees pulled to his chest.

Lastly and most importantly, Kuro had walked into the room while Lance was self-destructing. The one person who Lance very much did not want to see. After all Kuro may have been a clone, but he looked enough like Shiro that it pained Lance deeply to see the pity in his eyes. It was as if his actual idol that he had looked up to since joining the Garrison, was here at his worst moment. It did nothing to soothe Lance’s mind in the slightest. In fact, he found himself falling further by the second into the abyss.

Lance was so entrapped in his mind that he took no notice as Kuro slowly pried his arms apart and placed them on the bed. It wasn’t until he felt pressure around his chest and back that he began to gain a sense of reality. “What is going on?” Lance asked, more to himself than to anyone else in the room. All he knew then, after his mind had cleared and focused on reality, was that he felt numb. Having had such intense emotion earlier had sucked out all his emotions earlier and left him empty. He was an overflowing bucket that had been poured out.

“It is alright Lance, it is alright,” Kuro cooed softly to Lance. “See, there we are, calming down. Now take deep breaths with me. In, 1, 2, 3. Out 1, 2, 3. In, 1, 2, 3. Out 1, 2, 3. There you go. Good job! Now keep doing that, alright, focus on that, and feel your heart calming down. Are you alright?” Lance nodded. Lance did feel better, but he was still ashamed at having been found in such a horrible state of mind. Slowly he let go of Kuro’s shirt that he had been unconsciously clinging to and pulled back to sit on his own.

“Okay Lance, do you think that you can stand?” Kuro asked. Lance stood shakily, but refused to look the man in the eyes. “Good, alright, you don’t need to tell me what happened just now, but I need you to follow me, okay?” Lance nodded, eyes focused on the floor, mouth clamped shut as he refused to say anything. He didn’t even know what he could say in this situation that wouldn’t make him seem more unstable than he already appeared.

At Lance’s confirmation, Kuro turned away and walked at a moderate pace out into the hallway. Lance followed him after a slight second of hesitation. Every now and then Kuro would look back to make sure that Lance was still following and safe. Kuro took turns that showed his knowledge of the layout very well. This time Lance didn’t even try to map out where they were going, content with following. Despite feeling time drag on, Lance knew that he had only been following Kuro for a few minutes, max.

Before too long, Kuro stopped quite abruptly in front of a white desk that poked out from the wall. There was a cage of metal stretching above the opening over the desk, save for a small slat at the bottom. Behind the metal sat a cheery woman, who was fairly buff, and was well tanned. “Wait,” Lance thought to himself upon examining this lady, “What does her name tag say?”. Leaning closer, Lance could make out the writing. “Shay” was upon the tag. “Shay?” Lance continued to himself, “Wasn’t that the Balmeran girl who helped us get the new crystal for the castle-ship?” Before Lance could ponder too much longer he heard Kuro speaking to Shay. 

“Hey Shay, I am going to need some bandaging.” Kuro stated quite abruptly. Shay looked concerned and looked at both Lance and Kuro to try and identify any blatant injuries between the two. It didn’t take her long to notice Lance’s arms.

“Sure Shiro, I can do that. Do you need any help cleaning up?” Shay responded in the same cheery manner as before, trying her best to hide the sadness in her eyes.

“No thank you, I can handle this myself, but I do appreciate the offer.” With that, she walked back inside of her small office and grabbed some bandages which ended up being a fairly simple medical wrap. Kuro whispered some quiet words and started walking over to some chairs that were pushed against the wall. It didn’t take Lance long to figure out that he was supposed to be following the man over to the chairs and stood beside him when he stopped.

“Alright Lance, lets get you all cleaned up. Now I want you to sit here while I go and get some wet paper towels so we can get all this blood off you.” Lance nodded and sat patiently while Kure left. It didn’t take too long for Kuro to return with wet paper towels and some dry ones as well. Carefully, he grabbed one of Lance’s arms and dabbed it lightly with the paper towel. Repeating the process till both of Lance’s arms were fairly clean and relatively blood free, Kuro freed the medical wrap from its plastic casing.

“Okay Lance, now that we have cleaned your arms fairly well, I am going to wrap them since they are still bleeding a bit. Is that okay?” Lance nodded once again and sat still while Kuro grabbed the wrap and wound it with medical precision around Lance’s arm. When he was done, he repeated for the other arm and made sure that they were snug but not too tight on Lance’s arms. Kuro stood up from the ground where he had been previously kneeling. Holding out a hand for Lance, Kuro helped him up.

“Now, let’s go have a little chat with Dr. Altea and see what we need to do to prevent anything like this from happening again.”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you guys enjoyed that. Criticism is always appreciated.


	5. Hear the Hesitation in my Proclamation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man am I glad to be done with the SAT's. As a kind of celebration (IDK) that I most likely failed, I decided to update early with the newest chapter. I had trouble with the wording a few times so bear with me here. At this point I have been essentially procrastinating on doing my work with this so yeah, that is fun. Nonetheless I hope that you enjoy this chapter and, like always, criticism is always appreciated so feel free to let me know what I messed up on so I can fix it for the future. Thank you for reading.

Chapter 4: Hear the Hesitation in my Proclamation

 

“Now, let’s go have a little chat with Dr. Altea and see what we need to do to prevent anything like this from happening again.” The cold words sent a slight chill through Lance’s spine as he stared up at Kuro, new bandages wrapped tightly around his arms. A moment’s hesitation, long enough to be noticed, not long enough to cause concern, was obvious. Lance took a second to process what Kuro had said, before nodding very slightly. All the while he avoided Kuro’s eyes already knowing what they showed all too well.

Kuro paused slightly at Lance’s hesitation, but pushed it aside as he turned around and walked down the hall. He led Lance away from the little alcove where they had previously encountered Shay. Every few moments, similar to when they had left Lance’s supposed room, Kuro would glance back. Just a slight notice to ensure that Lance was still following behind. Once again, Kuro navigated the maze of hospital corridors with precision. A skill that, in all honesty, baffled Lance more than he would care to admit.

It did not take too long for them to make it to the same little door that held the office of one Dr. Allura Altea. It had not changed what so ever in the past few hours, but then again, why would it? It did not take much for Lance to mentally chastise himself for thinking that anything would be different that before. Kuro reached up and knocked quickly on the hardwood door, not waiting for Lance as he had previously done. Some murmuring could be heard from behind the door, and after a quick minute it opened up to show someone that Lance did not expect to see.

“Why hello Shiro, I am surprised to see you so soon and with Mr. McClain nonetheless. I was just finishing up a session with Mr. Kogane here.” Sure enough, it was one Keith Kogane, in all of his brooding, mulleted, emo glory. The same Keith that also happened to be standing next to Altea, looking almost dejected, but angry at the same time. It was startling to see Keith here, especially when Lance was sure he had met all the characters in this strange story courtesy of one Haggar.

“Ahh, I understand. Lance here had an episode and is in need of some counseling to help him understand what happened and to get through it. Would you like me to escort Keith to his room?”

“I would appreciate that very much Shiro, thank you. Remembered what we talked about Keith.” Keith looked back, gave the slightest nod, and turned around to follow Shiro through the hospital. “Now Lance, go ahead and come inside.” Altea motioned for Lance to follow her inside and he did so, but reluctantly nonetheless. He was afraid to admit that he still feared that Haggar might pop up in the room again, memories clouding his judgement temporarily.

Altea turned and closed the door behind the both of them, essentially trapping Lance once more. During this, Lance had taken the seat in front of her desk, enjoying it’s comfortable embrace for the slightest moment. His smallest second of release from this nightmare. Altea made quick work herself, walking over and sitting across from Lance. There was an almost sad look that danced upon her eyes, concern for her charge evident beyond measure.

“Alright Lance, so I heard that you had an incident before coming here. Do you want to tell me what happened so we can prevent something like this from happening again?” Altea was patient, waiting for Lance’s response. Lance took his time to decide what he was going to say, contemplating every scenario in his head and looking for the best course of action.

“I don’t belong in here, I know I don’t because I am not crazy.” Lance’s voice was low, solemn, but still showed the slight determination he refused to lose. “I am here by some weird fate or something, but I know that it was wrong because I don’t belong here.”

“Okay Lance, let’s expand on that feeling. I think that it is a great place to start and maybe we can figure out how-” Lance interrupted her with his hand and quickly began to talk again.

“No, you don’t get it! I don’t belong here! Period, end of story, the great finale, that is it. I even have proof that I know what happened before I got here, and it isn’t what you guys say happened.”

“Well, Lance, I am going to need you to calm down real quick and then you can explain this proof that you have.” Lance settled down, and once she was satisfied she let him continue.

“You see, I know that I was with the other paladins before I woke up here this morning. I was shot and I even have proof.” Lance lifted up his shirt to show the large scar he had found earlier. “See! This is all the proof I need because I remember exactly how I got it. Now if you guys could cut the crap with this whole hospital bullshit, I would really appreciate it.” 

“Lance, I am going to need you to sit back down please.” Lance hadn’t realized that he was standing, nor did he know during which part of his statement that he stood up. He sat back down quietly and waited for Altea to continue. “Thank you, now do you remember why you were charged to this hospital.” Lance felt confused to say the least. Didn’t he just explain that he wasn’t supposed to be here?

“Of course I don’t. This isn’t real and I don’t belong here. So I feel that it would be obvious that I would have never actually been entrusted to this hospital because it doesn’t actually exist.”

“Lance, you were placed in our care for a few reasons, namely because what you did to .0e28arn that scar on your abdomen.”

“What? That doesn’t make any sense. I earned this scar while fighting the Galra, so why I would I be in a fucking crazy hospital because of that?”

“Lance, that scar isn’t from fighting the, what did you call them? The Galra? You received that scar after attacking your mother at a dinner. Does any of this ring any bells?”

“No it doesn’t ring any fucking bells! I would never attack my own mother, not to mention the fact that I haven’t seen her in over a year.”

“Lance, please calm down. You attacked your mother after screaming something about her being a clone that worked under the Galra Empire. You had managed to get your hands on a gun, but shot yourself instead. Just before you said something about how it would get you out of the “Witch’s” hands and back to the Blue Lion. You were admitted to the hospital shortly afterwards.”

“No, no, no, no, no! You… you are lying; there is no way that I would do anything so ridiculous. There… there is no way. Why would… why would I do something like that? I… I… I wouldn’t do… I wouldn’t do anything like… like that. Would I?” Near the end of his sentence Lance had pulled his legs to his chest and had started sobbing. His hands raked frantically through his hair, searching for some fallacy to what Altea had just said. Altea had stood at some point to walk around her desk and kneel in front of Lance. She placed a hand on his back to help calm him down.

“There there Lance, it is going to be alright. You are alright and we are going to help you get better. Now deep breaths, in and out, in and out, in and out. There you go, that is much better now, isn’t it?” Lance had pulled his hands from his hair and settled for wrapping his arms around his legs. He slowly looked up to see the genuine concern and sadness on Altea’s face and in her eyes. He took a second, yet another hesitation to add to his ever growing list, and settled for nodding his head.

“There you go, here have a tissue. Now, do you think you are ready to talk about your incident from before, and about why you started hurting yourself. It is okay if you take your time, just collect your thoughts and figure out what you want to say.”

“I…” Lance’s voice trembled, still shaking from having cried so violently just a few minutes ago. “I was thinking about my… about my friends and about how much I miss them. About how… how I hope they are all okay. I didn’t even notice that… that I was scratching at my arms. I guess I don’t notice a whole lot of things.”

“Alright Lance, it is okay. Do you wanna tell me about these friends?”

“Yeah, they… they are the most amazing group of people in the whole universe. We have done so much together and… and they are like a second family to me.”

“You are doing great Lance. Maybe they will visit you sometime soon and I will be able to meet these lovely friends.”

“Yeah, maybe they will come by. I miss them a lot.”

“Well, Lance, I am proud to say you are doing a lot better now, but I am afraid we will likely have to change your scheduling a little to accommodate for this incident. From now on you will have a watch go by your room every 5 minutes to ensure that you are safe and haven’t endangered your health. Additionally we have to put you on the watch, but I am sure you had already guessed that. Now, before I page Shiro to come back, do you need anything else? Like, do you wanna talk about anything?”

“Um, well, I have one request.”

“And what would that be Lance?”

“Socks.”

“Socks?”

“Yes, socks, I want socks. My feet are cold and the floors are all so freezing, and I didn’t see any socks in my room. So yes, I want socks.”

“Oh, well, I don’t normally organize commissary items for patients, that is usually someone else’s job, like Shiro’s. But I can put in a couple words and get you some slippers. Socks aren’t allowed for certain reasons, but you can have slippers.”

“Alright, I would like slippers.”

“Okay, well I am going to get Shiro to come over and he will escort you to dinner. It’s pizza night and you know what that means.” Lance did not know what that meant but decided to nod his head nonetheless. It could be said that Lance felt marginally better at that moment, but he couldn’t quite place a finger as to why he felt that way. Perhaps it was the prospect of eventually having something for his feet sometime in the near future. Or maybe it was something deeper, something more… personal perhaps. 

Lance was stirred out of his thoughts by a knock at the door that led into Altea’s office. He followed Altea to the door and stood to the side as she opened it. Low and behold, outside the door was Kuro nonetheless. Altea nodded to him and handed him a note that she had made before Lance and her’s meeting ended. Kuro nodded and turned around while she closed the door, with Lance trapped once more in the halls of the hospital. Trapped with one of the few people Lance very much did not want to see.

Kuro made sure Lance was following him, using the same pattern as before with checking every few seconds. He led Lance towards the wonderful smell that was emanating from the cafeteria. Once inside, Lance could finally grasp how many people were actually in this hospital. While not over crowded, there were still a few people at every table. Staff intermingled with patients. He must have been on the tail end of breakfast because there were considerably less people than this. 

Kuro pulled Lance out of his thoughts by nudging him forward slightly. Lance walked up and took his place at the back of the line, waiting behind several people that he did not know. It was strange, to say that he would be eating with a crowd of strangers. Everything was strange though, so it fit perfectly. Eventually Lance made it to the front of the line and saw himself in front of the clone of his buddy once more. 

Hulk was too busy telling his story and exclaiming how happy he was that he did not notice how Lance was not listening to a single word he said. Just nodding his head along to the words hoping that he didn’t look too crazed. When he received his food, Lance walked over, head down, and sat down at the first empty seat that he found. He didn’t care who he sat by, he just wanted to eat his food and get on with his life, if that was what he was going to call it. 

“What do you think you’re doing Starboy?” Came an eerily familiar voice. Lance looked up and saw none other, than the one and only emo-mullet sitting across from him. Lance groaned internally and found himself saying the first words that came to mind.

“Why, what does it look like I am doing? I am sitting at a table and eating my food. Do you have a problem with that Mullet?”

“Yes, I would say that I very much DO have a problem with you sitting there, especially considering that at least I have some shred of sanity.”

“And what is that supposed to mean? Look at where you are man. We are in a fucking mental hospital. You kinda lost your sane card the second you came in the front door.”

“What it means is that at least I am not as crazy as some people in this place. Case and point sitting directly across from me.”

“Oh wow, great burn. Man, I am practically dying over here. Oh wait, I guess I am just being too crazy for you.”

“Okay, point is, go sit somewhere else.”

“Or what? Are you going to call the cops if I try and eat my food like a normal person. OH NO OFFICER! Whatever shall I do?”

“No, but please go away, I want to leave this place with some form of sanity.”

“So, and correct me if I am wrong here but, sitting next to me is just so horrible that anyone who does becomes clinically insane. And what is to say that I am not the most sane person here and am getting out tomorrow.”

“Yeah, well at least I have some actual hope of getting out of here. Dude, you literally injured yourself during a delusion or some shit. Normal people don’t do that. Accept it, you are probably one of the MOST insane people here. So go and do us all a favor by sitting by yourself so you don’t ruin anyone else’s chances.” That was a low hit, and Lance knew it. He wasn’t crazy, just misplaced.

“Fine, I get it Mullet, I’ll go. Clear as fucking day that I don’t belong here. Have fun being an asshole by yourself.” Lance sounded pissed, which was justifiable considering that he was actually pissed off. It was one thing to tell a person they were crazy, but another to say they were the worst person in the place that only harmed the people they were around. Lance moved to a small table pushed against the wall that was currently empty. Lance was sitting there when he heard a familiar voice pipe up from behind him.

“Hey Lance! Haven’t see you in ages man. Do you mind if I sit with you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and I hope that you guys enjoyed this, or at least enjoyed it as much as possible. I hope that you guys have a wonderful day, and I love all y'all to pieces, so don't forget it.


	6. Reuniting for One, Relighting for All

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry that I have been sparse on posting recently. I am fairly sure I haven't posted in over a month. So I am really sorry. I have just been in a really bad spot, and it took a while for me to kinda dig myself out of the hole that I was already in. Anyways, I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter. Criticism is always appreciated.

Chapter 5: Reuniting for One, Relighting for All

 

“Hey Lance! Haven’t see you in ages man. Do you mind if I sit with you?” came a voice that was familiar. Lance turned around to see Pidge, standing behind him and shooting a large grin. It was refreshing, in a sick sense of the word, to be able to see his friend again. He knew, or at least was fairly sure, that this would not be the real thing. The only person that he knew for sure was real would be Matt, and that was just because Matt knew what was and was not real. This person in front of him, the one that looked oh so much like his friend, was not real.

“No, I don’t mind at all, go ahead and sit.” Lance said with a small smile. It may have been faked, but it was all he could master at that time. It was mere salt in an open wound that his friends felt so close but were really so far.

“Cool, but where is my brother Matt? You two usually sit together.”

“I don’t know, but we got in trouble from Shiro earlier for talking to each other. Apparently we give each other bad ideas.”

“Hmph, well I guess I will have to talk to him. I mean, he seriously can’t do that, can he? Last time they did something like that to you guys it ended really badly, but nevermind that now.”

“What do you mean by it ended badly? What happened the last time that they tried to seperate us and prevent our contact?”

“Well, you know, what happened last time was, well, umm, not really that good. Don’t you remembered how bad you both got?”

“Not really, I mean, I don’t really remember anything beyond this morning from when I woke up. Do you think that you could tell me what happened?”

“Well, it wasn’t that long ago, I mean probably happened around a couple weeks ago, and I haven’t seen you for a while, but, wait! Did you just say that you can’t remember anything past this morning?”

“No, not at all, giant blank spot.”

“Oh, that’s not good, that is not good at all. Have you talked to your doctor since then? What did she say?”

“Well, that is a very, VERY, long story, and one that I would rather not focus on. Anyways, tell me, what happened the last time that Matt and I were seperated from one another?”  
“Oh, so, you see, it was not good at all. I didn’t see either of you for a week, and when I tried to pry info from one of the orderlies, they just said you guys were resting or some other bullshit. Then I saw Matt after that, but it was like he wasn’t himself at all. Almost as if all the emotion and fight that he had in him was just drained, kaput. It was very disconcerting and it took him so long to get back to being himself. Good to see that you are doing well.”

“Yeah, I am glad to know I haven’t changed much. Would be nice to know what I was like before, but I am not holding any breath. Did Matt tell you anything about what happened?”

“Not really, he kinda just kept muttering to himself. Kept saying that they took you, took you somewhere, but he was never clear on exactly what he meant. I think he had quite a few episodes that week. I mean, I assumed you were in the same boat and you just weren’t stable enough to handle this again.”

“Huh, that is certainly weird, to say the least. Can I ask you one more question real quick?”

“Well, I mean, neither of us are going anywhere anytime soon, so shoot.”

“Why are all of us in here. I mean, like, do you know why I am here, why you are here, and why Matt is in here.”

“We aren’t supposed to talk about stuff like that though, kinda against that rules and what not, but who cares. We are in a mental hospital after all so it’s not like the bottom of the barrel is too far off. Are you sure you want to know though?”

“Yeah. I just, I need to understand what is going on here, or I think I am going to go crazy, or more crazy than I already am.” Lance let off a morbid chuckle at the prospect of calling himself crazy. Not everyday that one admits they are not alright in the head after all.

“Alright, just know I warned you, so if we get in trouble this is all your fault.Well, starting from the top, I am here due to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder going way out of hand, and a couple of other reasons that make it near impossible for me to live on the outside without supervision. Nearly washed my hands off once. It was so bad I had to go to the hospital because they were bleeding and raw.” Pidge paused for a second, appearing to collect herself. 

“Matt and you are really similar. I mean, your disorders are near identical, and a few other things make you way more similar than most people. I will start with Matt. He has Schizophrenia, straight up, and when it gets bad he believes he’s in space, waiting to be rescued from something called Voltron. Pretty sure it’s like a giant cat robot from this old 80’s cartoon show. When his delusions get bad, he tends to wind up injured, so he is here to make sure that he doesn’t hurt himself beyond repair.” She took another second, looking almost sad to begin the last part.

“You, you are a lot like Matt, but with a few more difficulties. You were diagnosed with Schizoaffective disorder, as well as a couple of other things. What is funny is that you and Matt hallucinate the same things. One time, you jumped on the cafeteria table and proclaimed that you were the blue paladin of Voltron.”

“Wait, you said I had a couple of other things, what else?”

“Well, part of being Schizoaffective is that you are likely to hurt yourself when you have delusions, like Matt, and that you have really bad mood swings, kinda like when someone is Bipolar. Um, you are also on the list.”

“What is the list?”

“It is a collection of all patient names who are at risk for a couple of different things which means they are watched more carefully and under stricter regulation. They put people who are suicidal, who self-harm, and who have eating disorders on there. You are on there for all three dude. I mean, I have never seen you eat so much before today without immediately purging it like five seconds later. From what I heard, you shot yourself in the gut before coming here.”

“Oh,  well, thank you. I am glad to at least have a semblance of an idea about why I here now. I really am grateful.”

“No prob Bob, just doing my job. By the way, it is art day, do you want to sit next to me? I love your drawings, they are always so pretty.”

“Sure, I would love that.”

“Sweet! I am going to go check a few different things and whatnot, so I will definitely see you around later. Have fun!” With that, Pidge bounced away from the table, tray in hand. Lance stared down at his own tray, much less motivated now to finish his meal. His mind was in a whirl to say the least, and he was even more confused than before. First off, he didn’t even know how long he had actually been here, considering it felt like a day, but could have been any measure of time.

There wasn’t much left on his tray to begin with, and with the flow of new information from Pidge, he felt sick and tired. Too tired to do anything. Not that Lance actually understood why he was so suddenly tired, just that he was so. His motivation had disappeared and he was left without a reason or want to do anything of effort. So Lance resorted to laying his head down on the table after pushing his tray aside, and closing his eyes.

Not long later, he heard a muffled voice which sounded suspiciously like Kuro calling his name. He decided to ignore him in favor of his uncomfortable nap. “Hey, it’s better than nothing” Lance thought to himself with a small smile. When it was obvious that he was not going to lift his head up without proper motivation, Lance felt a hand on his back, along with some more muffled words. Lance gathered what he had left in him, and raised his head to meet eyes with Kuro, who happened to be holding the same piteous look as before. 

“Ah, there we go Lance, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I am just tired.” Lance’s voice was clipped and gave of the impression of Lance being short with Kuro.

“Well that’s good. Hey, you are eating really well so far, but you need to finish what’s left, okay buddy.”

“Alright, you don’t need to talk to me like a child. I just kinda feel sick and the thought of food does not sound very good right now.”

“I understand, but you are so close to being done, like three more bites and you are there. Can you do that for me?”

“Alright, alright, I’ll finish it up,” Lance pulled his tray towards him and finished off the last few bites of his food, still bothered by the way that Kuro had treated him just now. As if he was a child that couldn’t look after themself. “There, see, I finished the rest of the food, are we good now?”

“That is excellent Lance, good job. Okay let’s go to the media room. It is art day after all, so you know what that means. Are you excited?” Lance stood up as Kuro kept talking about art day, whatever that was supposed to be. However a few steps later, Lance felt sick to his stomach, like he had eaten some bad fish or something like that.

“Yeah I am excited dude, but do you mind if I stop in the bathroom real quick?”

“Go ahead, but you know I have to stand next to the door, right? Can’t have you doing anything dangerous now, can we?” Lance nodded his agreement, if only to get out of the room faster. The second he found the bathroom he burst into a stall and immediately vomited his dinner up. It took him a few minutes to gather himself and his strength to be able to get out of the stall. Once outside, Kuro looked disappointed in Lance, as if it was his fault for feeling sick.

“I thought we talked about this Lance. You know you aren’t supposed to purge, yet here you are. I thought I could trust you.” Kuro looked genuinely hurt, like Lance had kicked his puppy or something.

“Dude, I don’t know what you are talking about. I felt sick to my stomach and this kinda happened. It is not like it was my own fault that I had to puke, now is it?”

“Okay, I am going to have to roll back some privileges because of this little incident, with time, I think you can gain those back. Alright, let’s clean you up and take you to the media room. I will be having a talk with Dr. Altea later though.” Kuro led a very confused Lance to the sink and grabbed a couple paper towels. He wet them down and handed them to Lance, motioning for him to clean his face off.

When that was done, Kuro walked out of the bathroom with Lance in tow. They walked off through the hall and away from all the people who were left in the cafeteria. It did not take long for them to find where the media room was, as it was only a few turns and a couple hallways off from the cafeteria. There were not that many people in there, but Lance easily spotted Keith, his mullet hard to miss from a mile off.

Pidge was also in there, along with a few other patients that Lance did not feel particularly inclined to get to know. He walked over to Pidge as Kuro left and sat beside her at a small, circular table. 

“Hey Man, so glad to see you. I am excited, I absolutely love art day, it is just the best!”

“What is all the hype about this art day. I mean, it is just making art and whatnot, I don’t see how that is particularly exciting.

“Because it is making art. We only get to do that twice a week with all the supplies they provide. If a person wants to do art on a day that isn’t an art day, they have to be supervised closely and they don’t get to use a whole lot. This is like the best day ever.” Lance nodded his head and looked down at the table. On the table was a large stack of paper, paints, pens, pencils, and so much more.

Lance felt excited. They didn’t have much access to art supplies on the Castleship, so he rarely got the chance to draw or anything like that. Lance loved art, in so many different forms. From music, to sculpture, to drawing, to painting, Lance loved it all. Maybe this unexpected side trip wasn’t so bad. Lance shook his head. “No,” Lance thought, “I can not let little things like this win me over and force me to forget where I belong.”

Nonetheless, Lance let a small smile dance upon his lips, not quite bringing it to his eyes, but portraying the momentary and fleeting happiness well enough. He did not notice when one of the doctors walked into the room and walked towards the front. The doctor moved to a stop and cleared his throat to gain the attention of all the people sitting at the tables. When Lance looked up, he could not prevent a new smile, sadder almost, from happening upon his face. 

Coran, in all his fiery, orange-haired, glory stood in front of them, mustache held to the same fine standards as always. Lance knew this would not be the real Coran, but it was nice to see the man who had helped him to feel at home on the Castleship. The same man who had related to Lance’s homesickness the most, and who had taken a dear liking to the blue paladin. The greatest space uncle that a person could ever ask for.

“Alright, as you all know, it is art day. My favorite, for sure, and I would be willing to bet that it was some of your guys’ favorite as well. Anyways, today, you guys will be creating something that you love. Whether that be painting a family member, making an origami replicate of your favorite house plant, or something else, just have fun.” With that, everyone turned to their own tables and began creating.

Pidge chattered next to him but he paid little attention to what she said, for the most part. It wasn’t until he saw her hand waving in his face while she was proclaiming “Earth to Lance” that he finally turned his stare away from the blank piece of paper he had been eyeing.

“What, what did I miss?” He asked frantically, worried something had happened.

“Dude, you spaced out for at least 3 minutes. I don’t know what is up with that paper to make it so intriguing but damn, that was impressive.”

“Oh, sorry, I kinda just got caught up in my thoughts.”

“Don’t sweat it, anyways I was trying to ask you what you are going to make. I can not think for the life of me what I want to do.”

“Oh I don’t know, I will probably draw “Blue”, or the Castleship. Maybe I will draw my mama, I haven’t thought about her in awhile.” Lance smiled sadly, remembering what Altea had told him.

“Oh, I think you should draw all of them! I know, I think I will draw Matt. I bet yours is going to turn out amazing!”

“Yeah I hope it will.”

“I know it will, no hope needed, anyways, we best get started if we want to be finished soon enough.” Lance nodded his head to the statement and turned to the table to sort out what he was going to make. It did not take too terribly long for an idea to pop in his head, and he immediately went to work. He knew what he was going to make, and it was going to be great!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. Criticism is always appreciated.


	7. Drawing Strength through Pain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for loving this. You guys are the reason that I keep this up and you give me hope that maybe I can make someone's day better. I hope you enjoy what ever this terrible chapter is. Advice is always welcome.

Chapter 6: Drawing Strength Through Pain

Lance was glad when he figured out what he was going to make. Lance grabbed paints, pencils, an eraser, and a brush, as well as paper, and began working on his creation. It was not fast, not in the slightest, but it turned out well. He was proud of himself. After all, he was still good with art despite not be able to make any for the entirety of his time in space. Being a paladin of Voltron did not leave much time for stuff like drawing, not to mention that the Castleship was not well stocked when it came to art supplies.

“Woah, Lance, that is amazing,” Pidge piped up from beside him. “I wish mine looked anywhere near that good.” Lance smiled to himself, proud of his art.

“Well, you know, not everyone can be as great as yours truly. It is a gift and a curse.” Lance proclaimed dramatically, placing the back of his hand on his forehead for dramatic flair. He peeked one of his eyes open to look at Pidge’s exasperated look and eyeroll. 

“Sure, keep telling yourself that master artist. Anyways, what did you make, I do spy myself on there if I am not mistaken.”

“I made my entire family, both my family at home and my space family.” Sure enough, it was Lance’s family. He had drawn all the paladins, Coran, Allura, and his blood family all together. He also made sure to include voltron in the background, with space swirling around it. Lance looked sadly on to the picture, but smiled at remembering what he was fighting for. The people on his paper, they were what gave him the strength to keep fighting through whatever hell this hospital was.

“Nice to know I am your space fam, even though we are all on Earth. Wait, why did you put Keith on there? He is nothing but an asshole to you.”

“Because Keith, the real Keith, is an amazing comrade, and an even more amazing friend. He is better than any of us could ever ask for.”

“I will believe it when I see it. In my book, he is one of the biggest assholes of them all.” Lance shrugged at Pidge’s remark, turning back to look at his artwork. 

“Hey, what do I do when I am done?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot you couldn’t remember anything Lance. Since you are on the list, you hand what you made to Coran, he will page Shiro, and he will take you to your room for the night and give you your night meds.”

“What about you? What will you do?”

“Oh, us patients who aren’t on the list are allowed to use the rec room, or the library for the rest of the night. Are you going to go now?”

“Yeah, I am probably going to talk to someone real quick, but I am going to go.”

“Cool, see you then.” Lance turned quickly and made to walk towards Keith’s table. He sat down next to Keith and made sure that Keith knew he was there. Keith had made a drawing of a knife that was not very well done.

“Hey Mullet, I really like your drawing. It shows the true, knife-loving, side of you that I don’t think we see often enough.”

“What do you want psycho? There is no need to rub it in my face that you are so amazing at art and that I suck at it. Now go run off and bother someone else.”

“Oh, I wasn’t teasing you or anything.” Lance said with complete sincerity. “I genuinely like your drawing, I thought it was cool.”

“Whatever, sure you weren’t. I will believe that when I am in space riding a giant red cat.”

“Well, you are, or at least the real you, is a paladin of Voltron so that isn’t really that far off. I mean, Red really does like you, and she is super awesome.”

“This is no time for your delusional fantasies. Just tell me what you want and leave before I become crazy.”

“Hate to break it to you, but you already are. Anyways, I just wanted to ask what you have against me Mullet. I never did anything to you and there is no reason in the world that you should hate me so much.”

“I am not crazy, and you don’t have to do anything for me to have a valid reason to hate you. Your mental instability is reason enough. And stop calling me that stupid nickname!” Keith’s voice took on a dangerous tone, and his eyes hardened into a steely glare, almost daring Lance to ask for clarification. Lance accepted the gauntlet throw with open arms.

“Well you are in a mental hospital, I am pretty sure you are at least some level of insane. I am not that bad, and that is no reason to hate a person. Also, what would you prefer I call you instead, Mullet?”

“I said to leave me the fuck alone, now go away before I make you.”

“I am not leaving until I get a valid answer as to why you hate me, even when I have done nothing wrong to you. So tell me, why do you hate me.” Keith growled in an almost inhuman manner, and pushed Lance to the ground, hard. White danced along his vision, and yells played in the background has Keith continued to strangle him. Lance could feel the pressure in his neck rising and could hear blood rushing in his ears.

“You wanna know I hate your fucking guts McClain? I will tell you why. You are a fucking monstrosity on this planet and deserved to be erased once and for all. The worst part, you laugh it all off like none of this matters. Like it is all some joke. That is why I hate you. I hope this will make you learn your lesson.” Lance didn’t notice when Keith had grabbed a sharpened pencil from the table, but he did notice when he stabbed it in his shoulder, pulled it out, and shoved it back down into his gut.

Orderlies grabbed Keith and pulled him off Lance before he could stab him again. Lance noted a blurry figure as he rushed to fill his lungs with air. He felt slight relief once the pressure on his neck had lightened. His head fell rushed and dizzy, and blood was no longer rushing in his head creating that unbearable sound. The relief did not last long as he soon felt his wounds a little too well. They weren’t big, but they were fairly deep.

The blurry figure that he had noted from before moved down towards him and soon came into better focus. He never knew that it could be so relieving to see the bright, orange mustache of Coran. He noted that Coran’s lips were moving, but Lance’s ears did not register the sound at all. All he could hear was an almost static sound, not too unlike that of television static. However, it was clearing fast, and Lance was able to make out some light noises.

Lance’s vision was steady, and he could make out Coran clearly now. However his mind did not understand Coran’s words. It was like he was stuck in some weird reality and no one spoke the same language that he did. Lance also found himself unable to move. While Lance was sure that his arms and legs were not injured aside from a few cuts, the pain in his shoulder and gut were almost too much for him to bear.

“Lance, can you hear me? I need you to sit still, we have someone coming to help patch you up, just stay with me bud.” Lance could finally make out Coran’s words, but he could not seem to find the strength to talk to him to talk. Instead he merely stared lazily up at the bright haired man. Coran’s ears were no longer pointed and he didn’t have the markings under his eyes. That was most likely due to Coran being a clone or some figment of Lance’s imagination in this hellscape.

It wasn’t long before some dudes walked in front of Lance and helped to pick him up off of the ground. Lance felt a scream of pain leave his lips as it moved his wounds. He managed to thrash out of their arms and fell to the ground once more. On his descent, however, he managed to hit his head on one of the tables, and then the ground, causing bright stars to erupt before his eyes. It did not take long for Lance to pass out after that. The last thing he registered was a pair of arms grabbing under his shoulder to lift him up and his body falling limp.

Lance woke again in a small white room on a bed that was not his own. It took him a second to process what had happened and why he was there at all. He attempted to sit up on the bed and lean against the wall but his wounds under the bandaging around his chest protested. So Lance laid back enjoyed the slight comfort of the unfamiliar bed. There was a light knock at the door of the room and Altea walked in.

“Hello Lance,” Her demeanor too chipper for Lance’s liking. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I have been stabbed by a pencil twice and my head had been smashed against a table and floor. So, you know, fantastic.”

“Well, it is good to see that you are up. I am here to make sure that you aren’t too horribly affected by this incident.”  
“What do you mean?”

“Well, situations like the one that had just occured have a tendency to leave permanent scars on one’s psyche. I want to make sure that you are sound mentally and that you aren’t too traumatized.” Lance laughed. He knew that he shouldn’t, but being thrust into space at 17, fighting purple aliens, and seeing what he has seen kinda puts situations into a different perspective. For Lance, sure, being stabbed by the clone of his friend sucked, but it was still preferable to the one time that he had protected Coran from an explosion. It sure was a hell of a lot better than being shot by a sentry and waking up in unknown territory.

“I am sorry, I don’t mean to laugh, it’s just that I think getting stabbed by a pencil of couple times isn’t really that bad. Being a paladin of Voltron is not exactly a walk in the park if you know what I mean.” Lance didn’t realize what he had said until too late. “Great” he thought, “Way to prove that you’re not insane.” 

“Lance, are you seeing or hearing anything that isn’t there?”  
“What! No, of course not. Why would I hear and see things that aren’t there. Anyways, can we get this over with soon enough. I want to get out of here.”

“Alright, I only have a few questions anyway, and we will discuss more during our session tomorrow. What led up to the moment before Mr. Kogane tackled you?”

“Well I walked over to Keith, and I saw what he was drawing, which was this pretty neat picture of a knife. Then he told me to go away and to stop being mean. I explained my sincerity, and asked what his problem was with me. He told me that my insanity was reason enough. I disagreed and asked if there was any other reason? He tackled me to the ground, explained why he hated me, and then stabbed me.”

“Was there anything else? Did you incite the conflict any further through name calling, threats, teasing, anything of the sort?”

“Well I called him Mullet, but I always call him that. I mean, have you seen his hairstyle choices? Like hello, the 80’s called and they want their hair back. That was it though.”

“Ah, you really should learn to not incite conflicts like that. One last question, why did you stay? Why didn’t you leave when Mr. Kogane asked you to?”

“Because, I wanted to know why he hates me so much. The Keith I know isn’t rude and uncaring and a jerk. I just wish that the Keith I know is here, rather than whoever that god damn poser is.”

“Alright, it is obvious you are still tense from your encounter, so I will take my leave. Thank you for being honest with me Lance. I will have Shiro come and pick you up from here and escort you to your room, as well as provide you with your meds for the night.” With that Altea turned on her heel and left the room faster than she had entered it. It did not take long for there to be a knock at the door once more, and for Kuro to walk inside.

“Hey, how are you Lance? I think that it is time we took you to your room. Can you stand?” Lance sat up, ignoring the fresh flare of pain. He put his feet on the floor, and stood, but was not stable at all, evident in the way that he fell forward. Expecting to hit the floor, Lance squeezed his eyes closed and prepared for impact. Rather he felt arms grab him and stabilize him before he could fall too much farther.

Kuro pulled Lance to his feet, pulled one arm over his shoulders to help stabilize the boy. He used his left arm to grab around Lance’s middle to ensure he didn’t teeter too far to one side and fall. Kuro made sure that Lance was stable and began a small pace outside the room and into the brightly lit hallway. The hall was empty aside from Lance and Kuro. It took several minutes and turns for them to arrive at the room where Lance slept.

Kuro used his free arm to open the door and turn on the lights. The bed was neat, as was the rest of the room. It showed a sort of compliant order that Lance was not entirely used to, but was beginning to enjoy. Kuro led Lance over to the nice bed and helped him to sit down slowly so as to not aggravate his wounds too much more. Lance groaned slightly from the pain, but was more comfortable that he had been while they were walking.

“Thank you Shiro.” Lance muttered half-heartedly. While he may not like the clone much, it was still nice to have someone to help him around.

“It’s no problem Lance. Now, I had someone bring a snack and your meds to your room so you wouldn’t have to take them on an empty stomach, so go ahead and eat this.” Kuro handed Lance a banana and waited until he was done before handing him two small paper cups. The first cup held water, and the second held a few different pills that Lance assumed were to help stop his supposed hallucinations.

“Thanks my main man, nothing like a dinner of pills and a banana to make a person’s day after being stabbed by pencil. You are the real MVP.” Lance shot a cheesy grin to Kuro and downed the pills and water with practiced action. Lance used to be really good at taking pills when he was younger thanks to his allergies, but one day they stopped bothering him and he hadn’t had the need to take them for a while. He was still confused as to what happened to his allergies, but pushed that out of his mind.

“Good job Lance, now go ahead and get dressed for bed. I will be back in about 5 minutes to check up on you.” Kuro turned quickly and left the room with both empty cups and the banana peel. Lance took a moment to compose himself before standing from the bed. He swayed slightly, but was able to make it over to the dresser without falling over. It took a while for Lance to change, but he was successful in the end.

He took his ruined clothes that he had worn previously and placed them in a laundry basket that Lance swore up and down was not there before. It was right around then that Kuro walked into the small room and smiled at Lance for a very brief moment. He then helped Lance back to the bed, wary of the way that Lance swayed back and forth slightly. It wasn’t until Kuro was sure that Lance was in the bed that he turned towards the door and shut off the light. The door closed and locked behind Kuro. 

Left in the dark, Lance looked out the window that was located on the other side of the room. Clouds trailed across the night sky, occasionally blocking the moon’s light. The stars twinkled in beautiful patterns and Lance sent out a hope to whatever being or deity that controlled their lives. Just one hope and dream to get him through to the next day. A hope that he would not forget his family or friend, and that he would not forget his contributions to this universe. With that hope Lance closed his eyes and fell into a somewhat peaceful sleep.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. I am getting a stable schedule so I should be able to post every week now. Feel free to message me and help me find which day you guys would like best for an update day. I hope that you enjoyed. See you next time.


	8. Update

Update

     Hey guys, I know that it has been a really long time since I updated this fic and I am really sorry about that. I promised more updates and failed because I hit a major block and damn, depression is such a killer. Anyways I have been rereading everything I wrote for this fic and I have decided that I am going to completely rewrite this story. In the meantime, I will be adding some new fics that I have been writing while I fix this story. When I upload the first chapter of the rewrite I will be deleting this one, sorry. That will probably take about a couple weeks though so you have time to read through this version. Please let me know if there is anything you guys would like me to write, request any sort of story you think would be done justice by me and I will do my best to give it the justice it deserves. In the meantime, I will leave my Tumblr link and you guys are welcome to visit it and send me messages via that account. <https://thesuperwholockian-scienceside.tumblr.com/>. As always advice and comments are adored. Stay beautiful!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope that you enjoyed this, and again, please let me know if you find any errors or if you have any criticism. I plan to update about once every other week, but that may change depending on personal circumstances. Thanks for reading!


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